Iranian marble: where the stone comes from and what it is like

Where does Iranian marble come from?

Iranian marble is quarried in several provinces across the country, and the centre of stone processing is Isfahan Province in central Iran. The table shows the main areas and what comes from each. The details come from stone suppliers, public authorities and researchers, listed at the end of the page.

Isfahan: the centre of stone processing

According to a chamber of commerce brochure promoting the province, Isfahan has more than 2,550 stone-processing units, which handle over 70% of Iran’s decorative stone, mostly marble and travertine. That is the province’s own figure, but a peer-reviewed Iranian study also describes the Mahmoudabad industrial town in Isfahan as a centre of the building and decorative stone industry, where blocks from the quarries are sawn and polished. Two dark marbles also come from around Isfahan: grey Pietra Grey and black Najafabad Black.

Mahallat: travertine with an appellation of origin

Mahallat, in Markazi Province, is known for its travertine. Mahallat Travertine (“Teravertan e Mahallat”) was registered in 2018 as an appellation of origin in the Lisbon System of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), under number 1114. According to local officials, the area has more than 150 working quarries and about 300 stone-processing plants, and Mahallat hosts Iran’s international stone fair every year, in 2026 for the 18th time.

Fars and Kermanshah: from cream to black

The Dehbid marbles, ranging from light cream to beige and even to a nearly uniform black, come from Fars Province in southern Iran. In the same province, in Neyriz County, grey Persian Silk marble is quarried. In Kermanshah Province in western Iran, quarries around Harsin produce cream and light ivory marble.

Azarshahr and the onyx regions

In Azarshahr, East Azerbaijan Province, between Tabriz and Lake Urmia, travertine is quarried and sold as Persian Red. Its red, brown and yellow tones come from iron oxide in the stone. According to suppliers, green onyx is quarried in Yazd and Kerman provinces and pink onyx in West Azerbaijan.

How important is Iran as a stone country?

Iran is one of the world’s biggest marble exporters, but most of its stone is used at home, and its exports go mainly to Iraq and China. In the UN Comtrade trade statistics, Iran was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of worked marble and travertine (polished, for example) in 2023, after China, Italy, Turkey and Spain. As an exporter of raw blocks it came third, after Italy and Greece.

The ranks cover the countries that reported their 2023 data, and the statistics count marble and travertine together. A 2023 report from the Finnish stone industry names Iran, alongside Turkey, China and India, as an important marble producer; the best-known producer, the report says, is Italy.

Where does Iran’s stone go?

According to Iran’s own figures reported to the UN, about 69% of its exports of worked marble and travertine went to Iraq in 2023, and about 66% of its raw blocks went to China. Counting raw blocks, sawn slabs and worked stone together, less than 3% of the exports went to EU countries. An industry yearbook based on 2017 data already described Iran’s exports to the traditional European and American markets as marginal.

According to the Iranian stone industry’s own estimates, the country produced about 10-12 million tonnes of stone in the Iranian year 1403 (March 2024 to March 2025), and about 85% of it was used at home. There is no independent figure: the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) does not publish an estimate of Iran’s dimension stone output, because, it says, the available information is not reliable enough. By the industry’s own numbers, Iran’s share of world natural stone trade is only about half a percent. So Iran has a lot of stone, but only a small part of it reaches Europe.

How old is Iran’s stone tradition?

Stone has been quarried and worked for buildings in Iran for more than 2,500 years. Darius I founded Persepolis in 518 BC as the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, on a huge terrace that is half built and half natural. UNESCO inscribed Persepolis as a World Heritage Site in 1979, and its description highlights the double flight of access stairs, walls covered with sculpted friezes and gigantic winged bulls carved in stone.

Persepolis is not marble, though. According to a study published in 2019, its building stone is a dense limestone made up of fossil fragments, and freezing and thawing has done the most to weather it. The stone was quarried right next to the north-east corner of the terrace on the slope of Kuh-e Rahmat, and Greek graffiti are cut into the rock face of that quarry. The tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae, on the Morgab plain, which once held his gilded sarcophagus, is also compact limestone according to UNESCO. Iran’s stone tradition is long, but marble is only one part of it.

What kinds of marble come from Iran?

Iran produces at least cream and ivory, beige, silver grey, dark grey and black marble, both clearly veined and almost plain. The table lists the styles and their Iranian trade names as the suppliers describe them.

The table shows what is quarried in Iran and the names the stones are sold under. It is not a stock list, and we do not promise any named variety in advance. Tell us the style you are after and we will suggest stones. Your quote always states which stone your piece will be made from.

Treat trade names with care

The same name can mean different stones. Iranian and Chinese suppliers sell Persian Silk as a grey Iranian marble, but a German furniture maker uses the same name for a beige Turkish limestone. Iranian stone is also sold under Spanish and Italian names that originally belonged to stones quarried somewhere else entirely. That is why this page uses the Iranian stones’ own names.

If you are looking for white or green stone, it helps to know that the green and pink decorative stones sold from Iran are often onyx, which is not marble in the geological sense. If you want a white or green piece, tell us and we will tell you the options. Marbles from different countries, such as the white marbles of Carrara, are compared in the guide to marble types and colours.

Are travertine and onyx marble?

Not in the geological sense, although the stone trade often sells them alongside marble. According to Britannica, marble is limestone or dolomite that has recrystallised under heat, pressure and fluids. In the trade, however, any decorative calcium-rich stone that takes a polish is called marble, and even the UN trade statistics put marble, travertine and alabaster in the same group.

Trade onyx is not real onyx. According to Britannica, true onyx is a banded chalcedony made mostly of silicon dioxide, while so-called onyx marble is calcite or aragonite deposited in layers in caves, rock crevices and around spring outlets. An Iranian stone supplier describes onyx as soft and fragile, unsuitable for floors, kitchen worktops and dining tables because it scratches and dulls quickly.

Travertine, on the other hand, absorbs clearly more water than marble. In an Iranian supplier’s table, the water absorption of Mahallat cream travertine is 1.15%, while Iranian marbles are listed at about 0.15-0.17%. Travertine’s pores can be filled, and Persian Red travertine, for example, is sold honed and filled. All three stones are mainly calcium carbonate, so lemon, vinegar and other acids etch them in the same way. Your quote always states which stone the piece is made from, so you can see whether it is marble, travertine or onyx.

What do the technical values of Iranian marble tell you?

The values suppliers declare are in the same range as for other marbles: a density of about 2.7 g/cm³ and water absorption below 0.2%. The table shows the values for Pietra Grey from a Spanish stone supplier’s data sheet and, for comparison, the values for the Finnish marble Lappia Green from the Finnish Natural Stone Association’s materials guide. The tests follow European EN standards, which apply in Finland as SFS-EN standards.

Flexural strength tells you how well a slab resists bending, for example where a table top overhangs its base, and water absorption how easily the stone soaks up liquids. In Iranian suppliers’ own tables, other Iranian marbles come out in the same range. Cream Dehbid marble is listed at 2.73 g/cm³, 0.15% water absorption and 13.1 MPa flexural strength, and Persian Silk at a density of about 2.65 g/cm³.

These are suppliers’ figures, not our own measurements, and they vary from block to block. They show the order of magnitude, not the properties of an individual piece. The guide to marble properties explains more about what marble is made of, how hard it is and how it forms.

Why is every piece unique?

For two reasons: every piece is made to order to your measurements, and marble is natural stone whose veining and shade vary from slab to slab and even within one slab. No two pieces are the same.

Marble’s colours come from small amounts of minerals in the stone. According to Britannica, black and grey tones come from fine scales of graphite, green from minerals such as serpentine, and veins form when cracks in the stone are later filled with calcite. The Finnish Natural Stone Association’s buying guide says lively colour and structure are typical of natural stone, and that aiming for a completely even colour goes against the basic nature of natural stone. Local spots, patches and streaks that differ from the base colour can occur.

So the finished piece will not look exactly like a photo or another piece made from the same stone. The finish changes the look too: according to the same guide, a polished surface brings out colours and patterns, while rougher finishes soften them and lighten the shade.

How do you choose a style and tell us?

Tell us the colour, veining and finish you are after, and where the piece will go. We suggest stones based on that, and your quote states which stone the piece will be made from.

• Colour. Cream and beige, silver grey, dark grey or black? The Iranian options are in the table above.
• Veining. Bold and branching, fine and even, or almost plain. A small piece shows only a small part of a slab’s pattern.
• Finish. Polished, honed (matt) or brushed. According to Natural Stone Institute experts, etch marks left by acids show more on polished marble than on honed marble, so a honed finish is more practical in a kitchen.
• Where it goes. Kitchens, living rooms and bathrooms load the stone in different ways. The product pages explain what to consider for each: marble coffee table, marble kitchen worktops, bathroom vanity tops, marble tiles and trays and cutting boards.
• Pictures. An inspiration photo often says more than a long description.

Send your wishes and measurements with a quote request. When you accept the quote, you get an order confirmation before making starts, listing the measurements, stone, thickness, edges and cut-outs, and you accept it in writing. Making takes about 6 weeks, because there are no ready-made pieces on the shelf: each one is made to order from Iranian marble to your measurements. The whole process is described on how to order.

How does Iranian marble cope with Finnish conditions?

Well indoors, if you look after it properly. Marble should not be left outside in the frost.

Marble is mostly calcite, which scores 3 on the Mohs hardness scale, and as calcium carbonate it reacts with many acids. Lemon, vinegar and wine can leave a dull etch mark on the surface. A sealer reduces staining, but according to Natural Stone Institute experts it does not protect against etching.

Outdoors, the problem is frost. The Finnish Natural Stone Association’s materials guide recommends marble mainly for building interiors, and a supplier of Pietra Grey says the stone is not particularly resistant to frost or acids. In an Iranian study of 14 Iranian building stones, including Harsin cream marble, compressive strength fell by 8% on average after only five freeze-thaw cycles. The supplier of black Najafabad Black, for its part, says the stone fades in sunlight and recommends it for interiors out of the sun.

Everyday care, stain removal and sealing are covered in the guide to marble cleaning and care.

Why we make every piece to order and what we promise our customers is explained on the about page.